Corbett, a Republican, is running for re-election next year. The leading Democrats vying for the party's nomination to challenge him support increasing the minimum wage and appear poised to make it a high-profile campaign issue ahead of the 2014 general election.

Pennsylvania's minimum wage is set at the federal minimum, where it has been since 2009. The minimum is higher in 19 states and Washington, D.C., for 2013.

One bill, sponsored by Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin, would raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage in two steps: $9 an hour immediately and $10.10 an hour a year later. It would also increase the minimum for tipped workers. Her bill, she said, would boost wages for an estimated 855,000 minimum-wage workers in Pennsylvania.

Another bill, sponsored by Rep. Mark Cohen, D-Philadelphia, would increase the wage to $9 an hour, with subsequent increases every year tied to inflation, beginning in 2015.

Neither bill is likely to see action in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

In New Jersey, voters last month approved increasing the state's minimum wage by $1, to $8.25 an hour, and to provide for automatic cost-of-living increases, as 10 other states already do. In South Dakota, a referendum to raise the state minimum wage to $8.50 an hour and tie future increases to inflation will be on the 2014 general election ballot.

Supporters in Massachusetts have submitted it as a potential ballot question in 2014, while the D.C. Council has given preliminary approval to an increase in the District of Columbia's minimum wage to $11.50 an hour.

States with the highest minimum wage

States with the highest minimum wage

Seattle has just approved the highest minimum wage in the country at $15 an hour. The increase will take place over several years based on a scale that considers the size of and benefits offered by an employer. It will apply first to many large businesses in 2017 and then to all businesses by 2021. Washington already has the nation's highest state-level minimum wage.

The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour.

Here's a look at the 10 states with the highest minimum wages as of the end of 2013:

8. (tie) California -- $8/hour

California's minimum wage increased by 50 cents to $8 an hour in 2008. Under a new law enacted in September 2013, the hourly rate will increase to $9 on July 1, 2014, and to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016.

8. (tie) Colorado -- $8/hour

Colorado's minimum wage rose by 22 cents beginning in January 2014, the fourth consecutive year of minimum wage increases.

8. (tie) Massachusetts -- $8/hour

Massachusetts has had a minimum wage of $8 an hour since 2008. With time-and-a-half on Sundays (for retail workers only), the Sunday minimum wage is $12 an hour.

8. (tie) New York -- $8/hour

The minimum wage in New York jumped to $8 an hour from $7.25 an hour in 2014, and is set to increasein stages to $9 an hour over the next three years.

8. (tie) Rhode Island -- $8/hour

Nearly 10,000 Rhode Islanders got an automatic raise beginning in 2014, when the state increased its minimum wage to $8 an hour.

5. (tie) Illinois -- $8.25/hour

Illinois' minimum wage has historically increased along with the federal rate, until 2004, when the state's wage was raised to $5.50 per hour, ahead of the national rate.

5. Nevada (tie) -- $8.25/hour

Nevada's minimum wage is $8.25 per hour for those without employer-provided health insurance. For those with insurance, it is $7.25 -- the same as the federal rate.

5. (tie) New Jersey -- $8.25/hour

New Jersey voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot question in November that raised the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 an hour in 2014 and amended the state Constitution to tie future increases to inflation.

4. Connecticut -- $8.70/hour

With a median household income of $66,452 in 2010, Connecticut is one of the wealthiest states in the country, and its minimum wage reflects that.

3. Vermont -- $8.73/hour

Vermont's minimum wage increases at the same rate as the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for the preceding year, meaning an increase to $8.60 per hour in 2013.

2. Oregon -- $9.10/hour

Oregon's minimum wage increased by 30 cents in 2012, which was three times as much as it has increased between 2010 and 2011, and then rose again to $8.95 in 2013. It jumped another 15 cents in 2014.

1. Washington -- $9.32/hour

Washington became the first state to pay minimum wage workers more than $9 an hour in 2012, when its minimum wage went up by 37 cents an hour.

Copyright 2013 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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